Stuart Barette

1
Global CMB IT Programme Manager
HSBC

Stuart is the HSBC Pride Network Trans* Lead, speaker at HSBC trans* events and an LGBT+ Mentor. He has produced social media content for colleagues and customers on coming out as Trans* and developed transitioning guides for trans* employees and their line managers and colleagues. Stuart initiated LGBT+ training for all branch and contact centre staff, Trans* Ally training and pioneered the simplification of the gender change procedures and voice biometrics technology for trans* customers. He was also the public face of HSBC’s Gender Neutral Titles campaign, completing TV, newspaper, magazine and radio interviews globally. Additionally, Stuart runs a monthly employment support call for Trans*, Intersex and Non-binary colleagues from HSBC and 45 network partners globally. Externally, Stuart is an OUTstanding Trans* Working Group Member, Jersey LGBT+ Consultative Group Member, active Stonewall member, active TNON and Interbank LGBT+ Network Member, as well as fundraising for Mermaids and a regular speaker at external LGBT+ and Trans* specific events. In 2017 Stuart was nominated for National Diversity Awards, European Diversity Awards, and the British LGBT Awards.

Phoebe Bloomfield

2
People Talent Partner
Aviva Investors

Since joining Aviva six years ago, Phoebe has been instrumental in promoting LGBT+ equality and inclusivity within the workplace. After becoming London Lead for the ‘Aviva Pride’ network within 12 months, Phoebe has orchestrated a number of successful projects and events, including Aviva’s own ‘It Gets Better’ campaign, where she produced an inspiring video illustrating the positive experiences of senior executives and network members ‘coming out’ at work, and encouraging other LGBT+ employees to do the same. Phoebe has been proactive in fundraising activities for the Albert Kennedy Trust, and recently project managed and facilitated Aviva Investors’ first ever LGBT+ allies event. This year, Phoebe led Aviva’s London Pride Campaign which had the highest ever employee turnout, and persuaded Aviva’s CEO to march in the parade, becoming the only FTSE 100 CEO to do so in 2017. Externally, Phoebe co-founded the LGBT Insurance Network (LINK) to address the lack of diversity and openness in the insurance industry, and the network has grown in membership year-on-year. For her MSc in Human Resource Management, Phoebe’s dissertation spotlighted the need for LGBT role models in the workplace, and is a call to action for continued research and advocacy of the LGBT+ agenda.

Robert Ronneberger

3
Associate, Corporate Strategy
BlackRock

When Robert joined BlackRock's Corporate Strategy Group in 2015 he engaged with senior management to start the LGBT+ dialogue in Asia. After gaining sponsorship from most senior executives by signing up 60% of the APAC Executive Committee as MD Allies, he and his like-minded colleagues across the region established the OUT & Allies network. Since its official launch in 2016, the network has hosted multiple events to drive LGBT+ inclusion that drove 60%+ of the workforce to join as LGBT+/Allies, linked LGBT+ inclusion to management compensation and started a reverse mentoring program for management by LGBT+ employees. Robert also led BlackRock's first ever LGBT Index participation in Asia where the firm was ranked #3.  Externally he serves in key leadership positions at the LGBT Interbank Forum, part of which includes encouraging firms to weigh in on public policies that improve LGBT rights. Additionally, he is a visible and outspoken leader on LGBT+ inclusion which includes frequent participation in wider business networks, speaking on panels at various chambers of commerce and consulates, NGO-organized seminars, conferences, and roundtable discussions with foreign government representatives.

Sayid Abdullaev

4
Associate Product Marketing Manager
Google

As an LGBT+ refugee, Sayid felt compelled to increase his colleagues’ awareness about LGBT+ refugees and the ways they can help. He organises monthly diversity chats and workshops for the Google Marketing team in NYC, providing attendees with a list of volunteer and fundraising opportunities to support LGBTQ asylum seekers. He also organises Google visits for LGBT+ refugees living in NYC to meet with Googlers and learn more about the employment opportunities at Google. As an LGBT+ refugee, he overcame homelessness and violence which galvanized him to become an LGBT+ human rights advocate, utilising his story to empower people to take actions to protect LGBT+ refugees and asylum seekers. He has founded multiple initiatives for LGBT+ Youth for Peace and helped raise over 1 million USD for variety of LGBT+ causes. Additionally he was awarded the Elton John AIDS Foundation internship grant to design a youth activation program, a SAGE internship to help with fundraising goals for LGBT elders, was a human rights trainer for UNESCO, and consults LGBT+ asylum seekers and refugees on life-saving services. He has been awarded various prestigious scholarships, and was recognised by President Obama, President Clinton, and the UN for excellence in LGBTQ activism.

Anthony Shop

5
Chief Strategy Officer & Co-Founder
Social Driver

As the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Social Driver, a digital creative agency, Anthony believes there is significant value in making the workplace more welcoming for LGBT+ people not only because of the inherent objective of equality, but also because diverse perspectives make businesses more competitive, professionals more confident and communities more connected. He is an openly gay leader and along with his co-founder (and husband) he has been a national and local advocate for LGBT+ inclusion and supplier diversity. He regularly presents about Social Driver’s story and the opportunities afforded by supplier diversity to thousands of LGBT+ business owners and professionals, including workshops about supplier diversity for the Mid-America Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce’s annual conference for the past 2 years. He is a staunch advocate for marriage equality, has volunteered for the Human Rights Campaign, Capital Area Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and Capital Pride, and is actively involved with The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, The Trevor Project and Q Street, a group for LGBT+ government relations professionals.

Alberto Pino

6
Consumerism Value Chain Manager
The Dow Chemical Company

Alberto has been the leader for GLAD, Dow’s LGBT & Allies ERG, in Latin America (LATAM) and Mexico since 2015 and for Mexico since 2012, coordinating efforts in new programs across the region such as Transgender Internship Programs. He has developed and implemented new diversity trainings for Dow employees in Mexico, held diversity workshops for Dow employee´s children to educate new generations on inclusion, organised the participation in the Mexico City Pride Parade and has ensured the annual celebration of Spirit day for the past five years. Externally Alberto is part of the Coordination Committee of Pride Connection, Mexico’s first collection of companies to work together to share and expand LGBT+ inclusion in Mexico and LATAM. He also coordinated and hosted HRC Equidad Mexico launch in December 2016 in Dow Mexico City offices, was a speaker during the first Out & Equal Global Webinar in Mexico reaching more than 400 participants around the globe and was a speaker at the Out and Equal Philadelphia Workplace Summit in October 2017 discussing his efforts in LATAM.

Krishna Omkar

7
Associate
Slaughter and May

Ever since taking the lead to organise the firm’s LGBT+ network’s very first event, Krishna has worked hard to ensure the network’s development and success, and has been instrumental in the firm’s visible commitment to LGBT+ issues. He has worked with the CSR team to set up a dedicated Pro-Bono Cell at Slaughter and May in 2017 for the very first time, to triangulate the firm’s expertise for social good and has been responsible for the creation of a business plan for PRISM with regard to client engagement and pro bono work, as well as delivering them. He mentors junior LGBT+ and BAME lawyers and students through the firm and through the DIVERScity scheme, and actively participates in recruitment events aimed at encouraging applications from LGBT+, BAME, and non-traditional background candidates. Externally, Krishna is in partnership with the Mumbai based agency Flying Cursor, and GLAAD, creating a video campaign featuring Bollywood celebrities speaking up in favour of LGBT+ rights, under the slogan “Inclusive India”, a take on the “Incredible India” tourism campaign. He is also working with HRC and Open for Business on an op-ed for a major international publication featuring global CEOs making the business case for Diversity and Inclusion, and setting out the economic cost of exclusion and discrimination.

Daniel Ricard

8
EMEA Human Capital Project Manager
PwC

As co-leader of the GLEE@PwC UK Network Daniel is a visible role model in the firm and works hard to promote and showcase role models from various minority backgrounds – working as an ally beyond the gay community. He chaired the first internal global webcast for all staff with their Global Chairman and Global D&I Leader promoting LGBT+ inclusion and Pride. He also secured funding from their UK Chairman to sponsor Pride in London 2017 for the first time and successfully delivered 50+ activities, managing a team of 30+ volunteers nationally, to activate their sponsorship and engage staff. Additionally, he actively manages the firm’s OUTstanding membership and is deputy chair of OUTstanding’s Events committee. Externally, he co-founded and chairs the LGBT+ TNON (The Network of Networks) which connects LGBT+ network leaders across 150+ organisations and all sectors to share best practice in effectively managing their networks. Furthermore, he is a mentor to Opening Door London Trustees and supports them to build sustainable relationships and long term partnerships with corporates.

Anjeli Patel

9
Senior Consultant, People Advisory Services
EY

Anjeli has led on trans issues at EY and with the support of the LGBT+ network Unity she was involved in contributing to an internal gender identity and transition policy, was consulted around inclusive toilets in their offices, and has organised several events to discuss trans* issues in the workplace. She is a frequent speaker at internal events, including the financial services Student Induction and speaking to the UK&I assurance staff around the importance of D&I, which reached over 2000 people. Externally, she is an OUTstanding trans advisory board member, a trans*formation ambassador and an All About Trans advisory board member. She has been interviewed by the BBC around her transition and inclusivity at work and has been profiled by both DIVA online and Attitude on her experiences as an Asian trans* woman. Additionally, she was a GG2 diversity conference speaker, the key note speaker at Stonewall's annual workplace conference in Leeds and Cymru and recently gave a lecture at Imperial College to mark LGBT History Month.

Peter Foley

10
Senior Associate
Mercer

Peter leads Mercer’s Australian LGBT+ inclusion group where over the past year he has created a dedicated steering committee of ten members with various defined roles, responsibilities and success measures. Under his leadership they have improved workplace inclusivity for LGBT+ colleagues by: facilitating awareness sessions, external speakers and training for allies, managers, HR and diversity teams; creating a workforce of visible allies who proudly display ally stickers and desk flags; successfully obtained HR sign off for additional leave provisions for colleagues transitioning in the workplace and wrote new policy guidance for colleagues considering transitioning in the workplace; and building a one-stop-shop intranet site with resources and support contacts for LGBT+ colleagues and allies. Peter is also a reverse mentor to a senior leader in the business and he manages the relationship with Pride in Diversity. Externally, he is a mentor to both an LGBT+ student and a young professional and he acts as the CFO for LGBT+ charity “Out for Australia” where he provides strategic insight to the Board to ensure future longevity and success.

Darren Beaumont

11
Vice President - Technology Product Manager
Deutsche Bank

As an active member of dbPride, Darren has led subcommittees around engagement, events and recruitment and is now focusing on global collaboration of the network. Over the past three years he has led the Bank’s grass-roots IDAHOT initiatives where he motivated and facilitated 35+ global champions who created local engagement sensitive to their countries culture and LGBT+ attitudes. He has also transformed how dbPride connects: from quarterly global committee calls (2010) to daily online interactions. He is a mentor to those more junior in their career than him, a reverse mentor to senior leaders and he regularly blogs about LGBT+ personal experiences. Externally he has been interviewed and quoted on various platforms including, ‘Out in the World: Securing LGBT Rights in the Global Marketplace‘ research by Center for Talent Innovation, the MyKindaFuture student website and OUTstanding newsletters. Additionally, he was part of OUTstanding’s Future Leaders Programme working group where he then facilitated and observed sessions during the programme.

Nicholas Deakin

12
Investment Banking Associate
Citi

At Citi, Nicholas initiated a new annual LGBT+ recruitment evening for over 75 high potential candidates directed at filling business lines where women and LGBT+ students are under-represented. This included sponsorship by one of the global directors of the firm. Despite recently joining, he is a committee member of Pride where he reverse mentors one of the global heads of the firm and informally mentors several bankers who are different stages of ‘coming out’ both within and beyond Citi. He leads relationships with the LGBT+ groups at several European business schools and was featured by Inside & Out, an annual recruitment event for undergraduates seeking roles in investment banking. Externally, the main focus of his activities has been as Co-President of the Out In Business Club at London Business School. Working as the sole LGBT+ student ambassador for the university with admissions, he trebled the LGBT+ intake over the past 2 years to and increased the number of women and bisexual students. He also sits on the scholarship award committee for the Reaching Out MBA Fellowship, is a trained Diversity Role Model and is on the executive committee of Out Next at Out Leadership for the London chapter.

Daniel Koh

13
Commercial Developer
BP

Daniel joined BP through the challenging Graduate Trading Development Programme in 2012 at which point addressing LGBT+ issues at the workplace was not a priority for most organisations in Singapore. Fearing repercussions he chose to remain in the closet. However, with courage and support from senior leadership, he came out and subsequently co-founded BP Pride Asia Pacific, to improve the environment for LGBT people across the region. In 2016, he pioneered the “Safe Spaces” programme in Singapore, taking best practice from the UK and sharing it across Asia Pacific.  He continued the programme in 2017 which has impacted staff to take pro-active action at work and in their personal lives. Externally, he has initiated best practice sharing groups, and ensured commitment from BP to be the first and only major energy firm to sponsor Pink Dot between 2014 and 2016. He has advocated with the multi-national companies and government agencies on the subject, aided multiple industry organisations in the establishment of their LGBT+ networks through sharing his personal journey, including; InterAlia, the first informal network for LGBT+ professionals and allies in the legal industry. He is often a guest panel speaker at other companies to discuss D&I and encourage participation.

Ramkrishna Sinha

14
Graphics Hardware Engineer
Intel

Ramkrishna initiated the LGBT+ ERG at Intel India and nourished it to current strength of 650+. Despite social stigma & penalizing laws in India, he came out at work and has shared his story to sensitise the leadership and the organisation. He has designed innovative events which led to organisation wide engagement with the ERG including C-suite executives, global leadership, to new joiners. Additionally he ideated and led the execution of a “Global Ally Campaign” at Intel, was responsible for raising the Pride Flag celebrating pride month, and his persistent efforts led to the establishing of All Gender Restroom in India (only site outside of US with such a restroom) as a step towards transgender inclusion. Externally, Ram has been a speaker at various forums such as Out & Equal India webinar, NASSCOMM D&I Summit, Diversity Best Practices Conference, etc. Additionally, his work “In & Out –The Indian LGBT Workplace Climate Survey 2016” co-authored with MINGLE has played a crucial role in progressing the conversation in Indian workplaces. He is currently compiling an online collection of stories titled “101 Coming Out Stories from India”.

Billy Kamberis

15
Head of Sales, Service & Performance - Global Transaction Banking
Barclays

At Barclays as co-chair of Spectrum for London & South East, Billy set up the first Trans focused apprenticeship scheme, working closely with Mermaids, a charity providing support to trans kids and their families. As well as offering opportunities to young people, the apprenticeship programme will give parents the opportunity to apply as "mature applicants" and restart their career journey, at Barclays. Billy is now helping other organisations replicate the scheme. In his immediate business area he increased diversity from 9% to 52%, and proactively ensured that all interviews have diverse candidate lists. He also appointed the first allies to the network committee, all of whom are senior leaders who have “come out for LGBT+”. Outside the workplace, Billy has been mentoring FTSE100 and S&P500 companies in setting up and running LGBT diversity networks. Additionally he has been encouraging young graduates to be "authentic", proactively approaching, organising and delivering speeches and panel events at a number of Universities, including at Oxford University. Furthermore, he has been a very active member of OUTstanding, participating on almost all events and up-skilling sessions, and ensuring that he makes a lot of noise promoting those events and encourage others to also join.

Harjit Saggu

16
Vice President
Deutsche Bank

Harjit is an Executive member of Deutsche Bank’s dbPride network and the Ally Champion for Deutsche Bank’s Group Audit department. Leading dbPride’s subcommittee for Programmes, Harjit is responsible for setting out the objectives and leading key initiatives to help make the bank a more open and inclusive work place for LGBT colleagues. These initiates include, developing an LGBT graduate mentoring programme, mapping out the LGBT career lifecycle to help identify the risk points within an individual’s career, as well as developing an Allies Guide to provide support and guidance on how to become a proactive ally. Harjit also helps raise awareness of LGBT issues and inclusion by engaging globally with bank’s Allies in regional offices such New York, Frankfurt and more recently Mumbai and Bangalore, helping Deutsche Bank meet its commitments to uphold the UN Standards of Conduct for Business to tackle discrimination against LGBTI People. Externally, Harjit actively supports the Proud Professional Parents network, is a volunteer with Diversity Role Models, and has attended Stonewall training on being an effective LGBT role model. He is also actively involved in OUTstanding, as an alumnus of the Future Leaders programme, and regularly sits on panels and speaks at events.

Brendan Walls

17
Director Global Customer Operations
LinkedIn

Brendan has led Out@in Dublin, and subsequently all of EMEA, since creating the leadership team for the region. He has worked to develop a business strategy for the group, including plans for leadership coaching and supporting partnerships with external LGBT+ organisations. Under his leadership, attendance at their Pride event grew from 50 in 2015 to over 800 this year. He has also hosted a number of other internal events, in various regions, which focus on how to create LGBT+ inclusive environments within LinkedIn globally. Externally, Brendan has supported many organisations with their ERG set up, including the Bank of Ireland and BNY Mellon. He is a regular volunteer for LGBT+ organisations, and has previously been a speaker at events for GLEN. Additionally, Brendan was integral to the organisation of OUTstanding’s first Ireland event.

Herman Duarte

18
Founder
HDuarte-LEX & Fundacion Igualitos

Herman is working to revolutionise the Central American workplace by promoting equal treatment of LGBT+ individuals. He founded the first and only law firm in Latin America that has the express purpose of eradicating LGBT+ discrimination, and he actively collaborates with companies such as Walmart and Nike on events promoting the importance of LGBT+ workplace diversity. He was the first ever Central American gay man to speak at the Chambers & Partners Diversity Programme, and the first Latin American gay man to be part of the Chambers Diversity blog. Externally, Herman is a vocal advocate for Equal Marriage in El Salvador, and is in the process of organising the first Equal Marriage congress for the continent, in Costa Rica. He has been involved with the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights, working to denounce hate crimes against LGBT+ people in the region, and raise public opinion and support on the topic of marriage equality and gender recognition. This work has included a number of pro-bono legal cases for same sex couples. He has also set up a strategic alliance with White Fox Consulting, resulting in an inclusion and equality index in the Central American region to promote diversity and inclusion in corporations. HDUARTE-LEX is also creating the first Impact Investment for Equality Fund of America.

Asako Kawamura

19
Senior Consultant
EY

As the Japan leader of EY Unity, Asako was instrumental in EY’s involvement at Tokyo Pride, with the support of the D&I team. This included arranging the recording of video messages from EY members and visitors, inspired by the “It Gets Better” project, to show visible support for LGBT+ youth. Asako also shared Unity’s strategy and initiatives as a best practice at IBM Japan’s Ally forum in 2017, was recognised by EY’s “Better Begins With You” peer-based global award program, becoming one of 12 regional finalists. Externally, she is a director of Good Aging Yells, whose mission is to nurture communities where LGBT+ people and non-LGBT+ people can connect. They run a café at Hayama Beach, the “Out in Japan” portrait project, and are an organizer of “Work With Pride”. Asako has spoken on panels and at workshops for various companies about LGBT+ inclusion at work and in 2016, led the creation of the first workplace equality index in Japan, PRIDE Index, and continues to lead the program.

Lauren Peel

20
Customer Propositions Manager
Aviva

As Chair of Aviva Pride UK, and now global lead for the network, Lauren’s volunteer role includes organising events and webinars (to extend global reach) on topics such as trans* inclusion and bisexuality in the workplace, co-ordinating attendance at nine UK&I Pride events, and developing internal and external campaigns to send a visible message on inclusion. She also produced an “allies guide” and sits on Aviva’s trans* employee and customer working groups to drive trans* inclusion. As Global Lead, she is the first point of contact for LGBT* colleagues in other markets, including Singapore, Poland and France, where they are working towards LGBT+ inclusion. Externally, she is a founding member of Link Up North, she sits on the committee for York Pride and has provided guidance to local secondary school libraries on LGBT+ students, resources and how to support LGBT+ inclusion in schools.

Cory Valente

21
R&D Leader, Strategic Recruiting & Research Assignments Program
The Dow Chemical Company

As Global Leader for Dow’s LGBT+ & Allies network GLAD, Cory sets the networks strategic priorities along the three pillars of Culture Change, Equitable Policies & Practices, and Corporate Reputation. He ensures that the network has both short and long term initiatives and lobbies internally for the resources needed to achieve their vision of a fully inclusive workplace for Dow’s 56,000 employees. Initiatives aligned to their strategy has enabled the network to grow to over 3200 participants in over 100 countries across the globe, including the APAC region where they launched their first regional GLAD chapter in 2017 at the Shanghai Dow Center. Externally, Cory has participated on several panels this past year, including Out & Equals 2017 Executive Forum discussion on 'Courageous Companies', the American Chemical Society, American Institute for Chemical Engineers, and the Materials Science Research Councils national meetings. He also ensures that Dow maintains close ties to many of the major NGOs in the US and abroad, including HRC, PFLAG, Out&Equal, OUTstanding, and The National Center for Transgender Equality, among others.

Dane Renner

22
Management of Change Lead
Woodside Energy

Dane founded the Spectrum LGBT+ employee network, where he has led the recognition of key events of the LGBT+ calendar, spearheaded a variety of initiatives, including: installation of gender-neutral bathrooms in the company’s new HQ (opening in 2018), and a review of company policies to ensure they are inclusive of LGBT+ staff, fostered collaboration with other companies and mentored LGBT+ staff from other companies. For creating Spectrum, and driving greater inclusion in the Oil and Gas industry, he was named as Australia’s 2017 LGBTI+ Network Leader of the Year by Pride in Diversity. Externally he is a board member of Living Proud, a fundraising committee member at the West Australian AIDS Council, has volunteered for the Freedom Centre, and regularly utilises his social media presence (LinkedIn and Facebook) to draw attention to LGBT+ issues and to promote inclusion of the community.

Joao Bevilacqua

23
Head of Sales Operations, Latin America
LinkedIn

Joao has been head of the Out@IN for Latin America, since June 2016. In that role he has brought the LGBT+ discussion to the table in the office through a number of initiatives including adding a diversity module in all New Hires on-boarding, newsletters, delivering a workshop on the coming out process, changing the names of the rooms to be named after LGBT+ icons and showing LGBT+ related images and videos on their reception. He has also been working with the editing team to promote diversity INfluencers within the Pulse LinkedIn publishing platform and launched #ProudAtWork to celebrate Pride month, where they invited the LinkedIn members to share the story as an LGBT+ professional on the network. Externally Joao has been involved with multiple organisations including, the Co-founder and organizer of LGBT Tech Brazil, sponsoring and speaking at the first TODXS Brazil event, a Reaching Out speaker for the past 3 years, hosting and organising the first ever Open for Business round table in Brazil and working with and mentoring other companies interested in better understanding how to structure a diversity program.

Daniel Docherty

24
Vice President, Business Support Manager
Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Daniel has been involved in LGBT+ efforts since coming out at 16. After joining Bank of America Merrill Lynch at 18, he helped form the EMEA LGBT Pride Employee Network. Today he is co-lead of the firm’s pioneering LGBT+ Ally program connecting LGBT+ employees and Allies around the world. Daniel recently supported the redesign of the program’s engagement portal that now offers game thinking, demographics and education modules to the program’s 21,000+ members. He mentors people both within and outside Bank of America Merrill Lynch, focusing on the importance of role models, being authentic and inspiring others to be their true selves. Daniel is a regular participant in Diversity & Inclusion related conferences and education sessions. He volunteers with AKT and various companies and charities and is part of the Out Leadership OutNext alumni. He also sits on the Radius Networks Council and the Interbank Committee which he has co-led three times over 10 years.

Jonathan Andrews

25
Trainee Solicitor
Reed Smith

Jonathan is a trainee solicitor at Reed Smith, where he is a member of PRISM, and has worked closely with previous co-chairs to increase understanding of bisexuality within the firm, and at client events, as well as ensuring LGBT+ employees in general had a network which fought to ensure LGBT+ visibility and acceptance. He has spoken at the DiversCity conference in 2016, helping potential LGBT+ employees understand the support on offer, and has spoken at the LGBT+ Leaders Conference in 2016, aimed at LGBT+ graduates and applicants, about disability and LGBT+. Jonathan also co-founded the London Bisexual Network, which works across various professions to raise awareness of bisexuality and bi-specific issues, such as low levels of visibility and wellbeing. He works closely with Stonewall and Diversity Role Models, having volunteered his time speaking to schoolchildren about the importance of LGBT+ acceptance. Additionally, Jonathan is  a passionate advocate for intersectionality, being bisexual, disabled, and having experience of social mobility, he is a trustee of Ambitious about Autism, serves on the Westminster Autism Commission, a Law Society Equality Board member, and is Mind’s Equality Improvement Champion.

Ben Cawley

26
Senior Account Manager
Standard Chartered

Ben is Co-Chair of the Standard Chartered LGBT+ & Allies network in the UK and during 2017 he led a rapid expansion of the network’s profile across the Bank globally. With the organisation’s full support he designed and implemented an extraordinarily successful Allies Program, set up a Trans* Committee to make sure that the organisation is doing the right thing for trans* employees and has organised numerous awareness events. Externally, he helped in the consultancy process for the UN Standards of Conduct for Business to tackle discrimination against LGBTI people, he works with one of the leading UK surrogacy agencies, Surrogacy UK, to help both gay and straight couples achieve their dreams of creating a family, and he is a dedicated mentor for a charity program to help young refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, where LGBT+ issues are particularly sensitive.

Jonni Learoyd

27
HR Operations Manager
Edelman

Over the past year Jonni project managed ‘50 Shades of Gay Season’ across Channel 4 including creating bespoke ‘This is Me LGBT+’ employee films where employees shared personal experiences of being LGBT+ in the workplace and how important it is to be their true self at work. He redesigned their policies and procedures using gender neutral wording formatting throughout, ensuring they met the expectations of a modern LGBT+ workforce by providing equal entitlements for all forms of parental leave and oversaw the implementation of gender neutral toilets, including creating bespoke signage and communications for employees to educate and inform all. He secured an exclusive partnership with Pride in London, providing them with free commercial airtime, showcasing their first ever TV adverts, reaching millions of people nationwide. Whilst in his current role at Edelman he continues to be Chair of InterMediaUK, the LGBT+ network for media and creative organisations, bringing together companies to share best practice, providing opportunities for networking, hosting bespoke career and events enabling people to broaden their knowledge and share experiences with others. Additionally, he is a Stonewall Ambassador and regularly provides support and guidance to organisations about the importance of diversity monitoring and inclusion within the workplace.

Paul Macey

28
Property Finance Director
British Land

Paul is the founder and Chair of British Land’s LGBT+ and Allies Network “BL Pride” and is very proud that over 50% of the company are members of the network. He has engaged with senior management and the wider company through presentations at company meetings and has published a number of blogs documenting the work they are doing as a company on LGBT+ inclusion. Under his leadership, the network run a programme of events, activities and communications celebrating key dates in the LGBT+ community calendar including history month, IDAHOT day and the Pride in London Parade. In addition, they have recently completed an internal policy review with the support of Stonewall to ensure that their policies are fully inclusive of LGBT+ people. Externally, Paul is an active supporter and Purple Circle member of the Albert Kennedy Trust helping to secure three years of corporate sponsorship for their Purple Door Project and for their participation in the 2017 Pride in London parade.

Christina Riley

29
Senior Planner
Balfour Beatty

Now into her 3rd year as Chair of the LGBT+ & Allies Network, Christina has focussed her efforts on greater engagement across the business at Board level, Divisional MD's, Line managers and at grass roots site staff. She has progressed non-binary inclusion and support by having educational pieces in the network newsletter, providing confidential support to non-binary members of staff and creating a non-binary guide for line managers and members of staff. Christina is also collaborating with the Environment Agency on running a Bisexual conference at the Thames Barrier in September and has ensured Balfour Beatty’s participation in Student Pride to recruit more LGBT+ Engineers. Externally, she belongs to a number of external LGBT+ Industry networks, and as such is a regular public speaker. She has utilised her profile to create the brand "LGBT Construct" where she promotes LGBT+ & Intersectionality and raises the agenda on mental health support in the workplace. Additionally, she is on the committee for the Building Equality Network, the Off Site LGBT Network, and a member of the steering committee for National Student Pride. Last year she raised over £2500 for LGBT and mental health charities on the Ride Across Britain.

Filipe Roloff

30
Customer Success Manager
SAP

Filipe is part of Pride@SAP Brazil since its creation, in 2012, and has been the leader of the chapter since 2016. He has led on awareness initiatives, such Trans Visibility Awareness Day, empathy, diversity & inclusion workshops, gender identity and sexual orientation knowledge transfer. He has been working with the Diversity & Inclusion Global Office and PRIDE@SAP global leadership to make SAP one of the most recognized companies in Brazil for LGBT inclusion and in Pride Month this year, they were the first SAP location, worldwide, to hoist the Pride Flag. Externally, he is a member of the “Comissão de Diversidade Sexual da OAB”, the “Brazilian Lawyer Organization - Sexual Diversity Commission”, which fights for LGBT+ rights in Brazil. He also worked to create the LGBT+ Summit in 2014, which is an inter-company event to share LGBT diversity best practices. He mentors other companies that are creating their own LGBT ERGs in Brazil and supports an LGBT mentoring program, with the aim to empower LGBTs with innovation tools such as Design Thinking and innovative mind-set.

Isabella Bardswell

31
Head of European Agile Centre of Excellence, Associate Partner
IBM

Bella is a visible and proud role model in the workplace and beyond. She is particularly committed to building more diverse and inclusive work environments.  She champions diversity in many ways, from always being ready and willing to have that difficult conversation, to reverse mentoring senior executives in IBM.  Bella is an active leader in IBM's LGBT group, both organising and supporting regular events.  In 2016, she presented at the Out & Equal Workplace Summit on how to be a global LGBT rock star. This year, she has led the transformation of the IBM Ally scheme through the launch of the 365 Ally LGBT+ Programme.  This innovative programme is leveraging gamification to achieve deeper and broader levels of engagement, and to motivate people to change their behaviours so that they can grow as LGBT+ Allies.  She has also supported her clients' LGBT BRGs, including advising on Stonewall Workplace Equality Index submissions and their Ally programmes.  Outside IBM, Bella is an active member of Stonewall, supporting their campaigns and amplifying their messages.

Samantha Jayne Nelson

32
Risk Engineer
Marsh

Samantha is Vice President Risk Engineer in the Global Energy Practice of Marsh and also an Executive director of the UK based Trans*formation. By openly and honestly sharing the story of her extraordinary journey, transitioning in the male-dominated workplace of oil rigs, Samantha serves as a Champion for Diversity. Her visibility and unquestionable passion for engagement is constantly displayed during her client-facing engineering survey work undertaken globally. Visiting offices and offshore oil platforms around the world, in places such as South America, Africa, India and the Far East, including countries where LGBT rights are limited and visibility is low. She has spoken at numerous events including; MMC’s Global Colleague Resource Group leadership summit in New York and at the at the Dive In festival in London, participated in Out & Equal in Orlando and Philadelphia, and OutLeadership events in London as an advocate not just for Trans* inclusion but as a champion of all elements of diversity. She featured in publications associated with the 21st International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa and her work was recognised by the British LGBT awards in 2017 where she was awarded the UK Diversity Champion title.

Jason Sloan

33
Organisational Development Consultant
GSK

Since taking over as leader of GSK’s LGBT+ employee resource group – Spectrum – two years ago, Jason has worked towards building a culture where LGBT+ employees feel comfortable to be themselves. This has involved Jason leading the organisation’s entry into the Stonewall’s WEI, sitting on the newly created LGBT+ Council as one of the Spectrum leads, visiting some of the country’s most LGBT+ friendly organisations to learn best practice and share learnings/ideas, and creating gender-neutral identity and gender expression policies. Jason also mentors other employees and was responsible for gaining endorsement from the then CEO to fly the rainbow flag above GSK’s corporate headquarters. Jason’s key passion lies in furthering LGBT equality and inclusion in science and health research, where he has been the GSK lead on a collaboration between GSK, the Wellcome Trust and Francis Crick Institute to form the Proud Science Alliance in 2017. The purpose of the alliance is to promote LGBT+ equality in the scientific community, since no such group or organisation currently exists. He also recently participated in an external panel discussion at the inaugural EDIS (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in Science & Health Research) symposium and is an active member of Stonewall.

Mark Darby

34
Strategic Consulting Team Lead
Salesforce

In the last year, Mark has become President of Outforce EMEA and formed a leadership team of 10 across 6 regional hubs; London, Dublin, Munich, Berlin, Paris, and Amsterdam. Today they are the largest employee network and have grown membership by 2000% YoY. He also took on the role as Co-Chair of the global LGBT+ employee network, Outforce Global and has helped grow its membership to by 40% worldwide. Additionally, he led the Salesforce presence at 5 EMEA prides events where more than 600 employees attended. Externally, he is an active member of Stonewall and AKT where he has organised numerous volunteer events including organising a group volunteer day at AKT’s refuge for homeless LGBT+ youth, rebuilding their garden and creating an environment that would help them feel more settled into their new home.

Amanda B Walker

35
Business Manager, Equities and Fixed Income Financing
JP Morgan Chase

Amanda is the co-chair of the JPM employee network and EMEA’s only out transgender role model. She has helped to write Transgender Guidelines, looking particularly at the inclusion of gender expression alongside gender identity and language fine tuning. She worked to secure dual gender ID cards for non-binary employees and the purpose build of gender neutral shower and changing facilities. Amanda also organised and presented at the region’s first Transgender awareness event, the region’s first Bisexual event, and the at first collaboration event with BAME network group. Externally, she has represented the firm on various panel events including LGBT+ recruitment events, Authenticity, Inside & Out, and Stonewall. Additionally, she is an active member of South London transgender pressure group TransPALS, the London Bisexual Network, London Bisexuals Meetup and is a member of the OUTstanding Trans Working Group.

Tuvia Borok

36
Executive Director and Senior Counsel
Goldman Sachs

As an openly gay lawyer, Tuvia regularly mentors and supports junior LGBT+ and BAME employees rising through the ranks at Goldman Sachs and outside the framework of the organisation he works in. Through his work with The P3 Network, the network for LGBT+ parents that he co-founded, and through his personal story as a single dad who happens to be gay, Tuvia has actively role-modelled non-traditional families and LGBT+ parenting, to challenge this visibility gap. P3 is the only network of its kind to support working parents and prospective parents who are LGBT+, and has played a leading role in championing and supporting multi-faceted diversity. He was the brains behind P3’s ground-breaking #familyislove campaign, the first global media campaign focussed on LGBT+ parents and family units. Additionally, in 2015 Tuvia was awarded a "rising star" award by the LGBT Bar Association, and has been named the recipient of the LGBT Bar Association’s Out & Proud Corporate Counsel Award for 2017. In October 2017 Tuvia gave a TedX talk focussed on diversity and inclusion programmes and how authenticity could be better supported given his experience of being an out and proud lawyer and father to a 7 year old boy.

Celine Tan

37
Senior Vice President and Client Services Manager, HSS Securities Services
HSBC

Celine has been the co-chair of the Pride Business Resource Groups (BRGs) of all the companies she’s served at over the last decade across Singapore and Hong Kong. She was the founding co-chair of the Goldman Sachs Singapore Pride BRG and just before her recent departure from J.P. Morgan was the co-chair of J.P. Morgan Pride Asia which oversaw 7 countries’ Pride BRGs. Externally, in 2014, she helped to import Pink Dot into Hong Kong (HK) by being part of the first Pink Dot organizing committee as a fund raiser. In 2016, she helped register the HK LGBT Interbank Forum as a formal association and stood for elections, won and took up the mantle of co-chair. Within Interbank, she has created the Network Mentoring Program which pairs representatives from member firms with mature LGBT+ employee networks with observer firms looking for mentoring and advice on how to start or advance their own internal LGBT+ employee networks. She is also an active public speaker on the business and economic case for LGBT+ inclusion in the workplace and has spoken on panels hosted by Bloomberg, Blackrock, J.P. Morgan, UBS, University of Hong Kong and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Sharon Slinger

38
Sector Commercial Lead
Carillion

In 2016 Sharon founded and went on to become Global Co-Chair of Carillion's inclusive LGBT Network, Connect. Under her leadership they have worked on a number of initiatives, including the creation of various communication platforms, talks to various business units about how an inclusive environment is important, and the introduction of rainbow lanyards. Connect has also been credited with being the catalyst for the new BAME network and disability network, along with the Carillion diversity council. Externally, she has spoken at events for Link Up North and the Association of Project Management. She also founded the Facilities Management LGBT+ Network of Networks to help the industry as a whole improve for LGBT+ people, was a member of Building Equality which is the Construction LGBT+ working group, co-founded the social enterprise, STEER, which provides industry professionals mentors from under-represented groups to built environment students and recently won the We Are The City Rising Star in Construction award. Sharon has recently left Carillion to pursue her next career move.

Danielle Piergallini

39
Business Extra Strategic Partnerships Manager
American Airlines

Thanks to Danielle’s advocacy and leadership of the PRIDE LGBT+ employee group, the group grew from 450 employees in 2015 to more than 1,300 in 2017. American has also made transition a qualified life event (which means that an employee who transitions on the job can choose new insurance/benefit policies mid-year), they’ve ensured their insurance carriers have trans healthcare subject matter experts, and they’ve expanded the trans medical benefits availability to all workgroups, as well as all eligible dependents. American also expanded family benefits to include time-off and other considerations for adoptive parents. Externally, Danielle is the co-chair for the Lambda Legal Dallas Leadership Committee and serves on the national board of directors for Lambda Legal, an LGBT+ civil rights advocacy organization. She mentors and works with transgender and questioning teens as a volunteer with the Dallas Resource Center's Youth First program. Furthermore, she has spoken several times and served on two different committees for Reaching Out LGBT+ MBA, and was recently asked to join a strategic planning committee to engage LGBTQI alumni from her alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Cortland Russell

40
Southeast US Program and Operations Manager
Accenture

Cortland made incredible strides for Accenture’s Global LGBT Program across transgender and non-binary inclusion, cross-company employee resource group (ERG) collaboration, and international growth of their Pride programs in just one year. He also helped grow the network in more challenging markets across ASEAN and Eastern Europe. He partnered with HR and Recruiting on increasing transgender and non-binary inclusion by writing and enhancing policies and practices, training 1,500+ front-line employees on best practices, and building a community that connects these employees together. He established an ongoing cross-company LGBTQ round-table in Atlanta that brings together ERG/I&D leads to share best practices and tackle community challenges. Outside of Accenture, he is President & CEO of Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (oSTEM) – a non-profit professional society focused on LGBTQ people in the STEM community. Cortland regularly volunteers with HRC Atlanta and Lost-n-Found Youth – an organization focused on LGBTQ homeless youth.

Joanna Walker

41
Regional Facilities Manager
Virgin Money

Joanna has been the Chair of Virgin Money’s Affinity Group since it launched in October 2016, and in February 2017, launched their first LGBT+ network, the Affinity Pride Network. She has shared her personal story of being bisexual on Virgin Money’s “Being Our True-selves at Work” internal hub, and has written and published an article for Transgender Day of Visibility. She is a mentor to an LGBT+ colleague and has produced both a trans guide and an “Allies Guide” to enable all colleagues to understand how to support and foster an inclusive environment throughout Virgin Money. Externally, she runs an Amateur Theatre Company where she led the group in putting on an LGBT+ pantomime with a lesbian storyline - one of the first of its kind in Amateur Theatre, and works to support the Stratford East Theatre to help advertise shows to diverse communities. She is actively engaged with both Stonewall and OUTstanding, recently completing their inaugural future leaders programme.

Andrew Porter

42
Recruitment Transformation Lead
Diageo Plc

Andrew is the Recruitment Transformation Lead for Europe at global leader in beverage alcohol, Diageo. Andrew has been working to reinvigorate the Diageo Rainbow Network across Europe, which is now an active, vibrant and supportive network, spanning multiple locations. As the Europe Rainbow Network Lead he also ran the first LGBT+ Survey for Diageo across Europe and has been able to share the results with local HR Directors and Chapter Leads to inform actions and agendas. Led by Andrew, the London Rainbow Network members were the catalyst for creating a broader inclusion movement - INC. - which delivered a four day, 23 session event at Diageo’s Global HQ in July ahead of London Pride. Andrew is a member of The Network of Networks (TNON) where he works to help share best practice amongst other organisations in London, and more broadly Andrew is passionate about sharing his learnings from running Diageo’s Rainbow Network in Europe with businesses and organisations large and small.

Joanne Legge

43
IT&S Manager, Corporate Functions
BP

Joanne is an active member of BP Pride, and for the last two years has been on the Executive Steering Committee. Her role involves leading BP Pride strategy and activity on lesbian women engagement, where she has doubled the engagement on the ESC and within the wider business. Joanne often takes opportunities within team meetings, Townhalls, and through Pride training sessions to talk about her personal story and the impact of inclusion on her personal life and career. In addition, she mentors LGBT+ employees in BP, and has participated in BP Pride video interviews on the importance of role models and inclusion. She actively leads the completion of the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index for BP and is the Chair of the OUTstanding Events & Content Committee. Broadening her work as a role model to outside of BP, this year, she took part in the BCS (Chartered Institute for IT) LGBT+ History Month role modelling series and is a member of Proud Lilywhites, the official LGBT+ Supporters Association of Tottenham Hotspur FC, which works with the club and supporters to tackle homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in football.

Dom Moore

44
Senior Project Manager, Advocacy Transformation
Barclays

Within Barclays Dom is heavily involved in driving forward positive cultural change within the organisation, heading up communications for the LGBT+ Network (Spectrum) and leading on a number of initiatives and events. These include organising Spectrum’s 2017 IDAHOBiT event, Project Leading on the colleague engagement activities for Pride in London for two consecutive years and, most recently, co-authoring a colleague guide on Bi-Sexuality, in collaboration with Credit Suisse, alongside organising Barclays first ever Bi-Visibility Day celebration. Externally he currently works with Diversity Role Models as both a Role Model and fundraiser, regularly going into schools and delivering sessions on the importance of diversity and challenging stereotypes and non-inclusive behaviour. Additionally, he has also organised a number of external events, including moderating a panel at Oxford University on Being Yourself in the Workplace, featuring Senior Barclays Leaders, helping the next set of graduates understand the importance of authenticity and the role they have to play in shaping organisational culture.

Adir Ron

45
Open Source Division Lead
Microsoft

As the director of EMEA at GLEAM group at Microsoft, Adir promotes LGBT+ communities in Microsoft through various programs in Europe, Middle East and Africa. During the past year, he led global program around Policy, Community, Outreach and Volunteering with numerous activities in the various GLEAM chapters. Furthermore, Adir promoted the biggest Pride commitment in the history of EMEA with Microsoft participating in largest parades such as UK, Germany, Ireland, Israel and the world-pride in Spain. GLEAM EMEA also sponsored cross-enterprise and external community campaigns in the region with collaboration with organizations like The Human Rights Campaign, Lesbians Who Tech, Belong To and Microsoft scholarship programs with Ma’avarim, an organization in Israel with the goal to empower and support members of the trans community.

Filipe Mota da Silva

47
Head Business Development - Natural Resources
Tata

Filipe is responsible for the creation of the TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) LGBT+ Agenda in the UK & Ireland, where he is Chair of LGBTQ Initiates with regular newsletter updates on the efforts. He is a mentor for the TCS Women Network, the leader of TCS D&I Council and an invited speaker at Tata Group D&I Council. Externally he is Secretary at Future Energy Leaders at World Energy Council and an Advocate of Diversity at World Energy Council and more particularly the integration on LGBTQ people for the next congress in Middle East. He was also responsible for organising an art exhibition, "Art of Authenticity" as part of London Pride 2017, working in partnership with OUTstanding to raise funds for Galop, a charity supporting LGBT+ on hate crimes and violence. Furthermore, he regularly promotes awareness through diverse interviews at Portuguese newspapers and TV channels on diversity and inclusion.

Jeremy Seeff

48
Associate
Epstein Rosenblum Maoz (ERM)

In 2016 Jeremy founded the Israel Diversity Standard, a volunteer-run benchmark for LGBT+ inclusivity in the Israeli workplace, encouraging companies publicly to declare their support for LGBT+ colleagues, highlight LGBT+ role models and allies, and create a forum for shared resources. Since the official launch in March 2017, they have signed up 12 leading global and local companies including Jeremy's law firm, ERM. As well as his work with the Israel Diversity Standard, he is a director volunteer of LGBTech, a professional network for LGBT+ people in or associated with the tech industry. They run high-quality events (hosting leading local and international LGBT+ role models including the PM of Luxembourg, British ambassador to Israel, entrepreneurs and VC investors), raise funds and awareness, organise mentorship projects for LGBT+ causes, and increase visibility of LGBT+ role models through the Israel Diversity Standard. Through their events, people have found employment, co-founded companies and created LGBT+ activism networks.

Alice Delahunt

49
Director of Digital and Social Marketing
Burberry

Alice has worked to be visible, out and open with all of her colleagues and team mates. As she is very aware of the power of brand internally and externally, she works with the Burberry team to support moments of LGBT+ significance and share them on their digital platforms, ensuring Burberry cultivates a clear message that the organisation is a welcoming environment that celebrates diversity. For example, the recent documentation of London Pride that was shared on the brand’s Social accounts, as a celebration of British culture and creativity. Burberry is also a founding partner of the recently announced Conde Nast publication, THEM, a new multi-platform LGBTQ+ focused publication. As an Irish woman, the marriage equality referendum was personal to her and in an attempt to make her voice heard, she wrote a post that was shared significantly on social media and online, as a contribution to the equality agenda. Behind the scenes, she has also worked to help and encourage those in the closet to come out and is very active on her own personal media, frequently sharing moments of significance and what they mean for LGBT+ people.

Marion Bentata

50
Senior Credit Officer - Assistant Vice President
State Street

When Marion first joined State Street three years ago, she joined the Pride network and immediately stood up as a lesbian role model when there was none before. She gradually became involved in the activities of the network and was appointed Co-Chair eighteen months ago. As Co-Chair of the State Street Pride Network in the UK, she has been representing and advocating for lesbian and bisexual women. This includes working alongside senior members of the organisation, helping them understand the specific issues faced by LB women around the double-glass ceiling, and participating in a panel discussion highlighting the importance of allies. Additionally, she has helped to coordinate the participation of State Street as sponsor of BFI Flare and leads and hosts a monthly call of Pride network leaders from across the globe to help share ideas and provide support to new networks which are emerging in more challenging locations. Externally, she is a committee member of the Interbank Network whose main focus is to create an open and inclusive forum for LGBT+ employees from financial services firms and enable the sharing of best LGBT+ targeted diversity practices amongst financial institutions.